Ministry wants ‘no down-payment rule’ to cover RM350,000 homes

KUALA LUMPUR: The Housing and Local Government Ministry will propose that the ceiling price of homes that do not require a down-payment for purchase be raised to RM350,000.

Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung is expected to table the proposal at next week’s Cabinet meeting.

Chor said that raising the ceiling price would benefit more people.

“The request is not unreasonable because for someone to own a house below RM220,000, one would have to travel a bit further even with the highway,” he told reporters yesterday after opening the property fair Mapex 2010.

In his Budget 2011 announcement, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak proposed that first-time house buyers with a household income of less than RM3,000 be allowed to obtain a 100% loan if they buy a house for RM220,000 or less.

Yesterday, Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) deputy president Datuk Fateh Iskandar urged the Government to consider increasing the ceiling to a more realistic figure like around RM350,000.

“Houses priced at RM220,000 are really hard to come by these days and if this price ceiling is not increased, this particular incentive and inducement will not benefit the rakyat, especially those living within the Klang Valley and Penang,” said Fateh.

He also suggested that instead of looking at the buyers’ household income, their disposable income should be considered.

On another matter, Chor said his ministry was working with the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry on amendments to the Building and Common Property Act.

“We aim to table the amendments in Parliament by March next year with the goal of detailing the boundaries, roles and responsibilities of strata title owners, property managers and developers so that the rights of home owners can be better protected,” he said.

He said the amendments were needed because they would spell out how house owners could exercise their rights under the Act and how many votes a house owner would have if he or she owned more than one unit in the entire building.